


Those Very Wild Dreams of Yours

by lhalt7



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Serial Killers, Childhood Friends, F/M, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Torture, Kidnapping, M/M, Minor Lithuania/Poland (Hetalia), One-Sided America/England (Hetalia), Original Character(s), Slow Burn, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2020-07-31 04:44:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20109340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lhalt7/pseuds/lhalt7
Summary: A gift work for a friend who ships Hetalia characters Elizaveta Héderváry and Gilbert Beilsmidcht and FRUK.Slow Burn OOC watch out





	1. Prologue-Yellow Roses Yet to bloom

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Etheramv](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Etheramv).

> Vigilante+Detective Elizaveta/Serial Killer Gilbert 
> 
> More tags to come!!!
> 
> Please comment and tell me whether you like it or not! Criticisms welcome!
> 
> NOT BETA'D
> 
> once again, MAJOR OOC POSSIBLE
> 
> NO CHARACTERS BELONG TO ME, ALL OF THEM BELONG TO HETALIA.

“3-2-1, I’m opening my eyes!!!!”  
The white-haired boy opened his red eyes. He was standing in the middle of a forest ground, surrounded by redwood trees, their branches freely sifting through the grains of sun. The brunette was nowhere to be found. He checked the damp leaves on the ground and found a faint sign of places where the leaves have been pressed towards the floor. The boy smiled as he skipped to find his playmate hiding in the forest. He was too excited in his potential success that he forgot to take notice of the increasing number of fallen trees. When he finally thought he saw the hint of a body hid inside a tree cave, he triumphantly shouted, ”found you!” As he slipped and fell on to the fresh leaves caked with mud.  
Pouting, he pushed himself up and saw the brunette girl holding her hands on her mouth as if to stop herself giggling. “I was hoping you would fall, but I never thought you were that stupid that you actually did fall for the trap Gil,” she said in between laughter.  
“Hey you would have done the same thing if I was the one hiding,“ Gil, the boy argued, “And the only reason I was excited was that I always lost when I played with you. Maybe this time I would actually win...”  
“Fully proving that I am more awesome than you,” the girl said.  
“Hey! That’s not fair! I’m more awesome than you are, and I can prove it!” Gil said defiantly.  
“Says the loser who has no proof—oh, does that make you a liar too?” The girl teased. Which starts a war.  
“You’re a square because I said so.”  
“Oh, then you’re a triangle.”  
“Triangles are awesome! They can make skyscrapers.”  
“No, they aren’t, they annoy me in math class.”  
“That’s because you don’t listen in class Liz.”  
“Says the person who always ‘goes to the bathroom and disappears’ whenever the bell rings.”  
“I don’t do that!” Gil said as he lunged towards the girl, Liz. Liz dodged and Gil face planted back into the ground, and when he tried to get up, she tackled him down. The two soon began to wrestle and giggle like there was no tomorrow, as the sun decided to call it a day and trudged away from the sky.


	2. Daffodil Dream

“So, does anyone have any questions on what Dr. Jackson talked about this week?”

Elizaveta asked her small group of freshmen and sophomores.

  
A hand raised up, "What are all the -pisms that he talked about, and how are they related to the stuff we are learning?”

  
“Phototropism is growth toward the light, it can be categorized as positive and negative. Positive Gravitropism is upward growth. Thigmotropism is growth in response to contact. Geotropism, in general, is the movement of a plant toward the surface of the earth or towards gravity, which leads to positive Geotropism and negative Geotropism. Positive geotropism is usually the roots of the plants, since they grow towards the earth, while negative geotropism refers to the parts of the plant that tries to grow away from the earth, slightly like defying gravity and growing upwards in terms of the earth, which leads us to Phototropism, which is growth towards light, which can also be categorized as positive and negative…”  
Looking at all the tired students, Elizaveta decided it was time to end the lecture.

  
“That was a little too much, wasn’t it?” Elizaveta laughed lightly, “any other questions? If not, be ready for boba on Friday everyone.”

  
Excitement suddenly filled the study group that was bored from all the talk before. Elizaveta bade her students goodbye and left the school, rubbing her eyes tired from the sun and faces of boring professors. She pulled out a sunglass, greeted her neighbor who just came back from shopping, and shrugged off her denim jacket and tied it to her waist. The pins in her hair that she spent half an hour in the morning attempting to stick them into the hair were bothering her quite a bit now, she frowned and pulled out the pins and stashed them into the depth of her bag. Without the annoying pins, her hair ran freely down her back. Looking around, Elizaveta was thankful that none of her past acquaintances were present, being confronted on the street was something that never ended up well for her, whether it was a bad breakup or another someone bleeding to death on the gravel floor. The collar of her shirts was clinging to her neck, so she untied the upper buttons of her shirt and casually tucked the decorative collar into her bag and walked into a bar.

  
“Hey Liz! Ready for your shift?”

The blond bartender asked while he was wiping off the residue of food from a drunkard who was escorted out of the bar by some guy who looked like he just came over from a bad breakup. They didn’t even pay the fee for the drinks. It didn’t matter anyway, both Elizaveta and Alfred, the blond bartender, knew that the bar wasn’t broke yet, so they could let things slide from time to time.

“I thought we made an agreement yesterday that I could take my day off today,” Elizaveta said.

  
Alfred grimaced, “Liz, please remind me to never drink with you again.”

Elizaveta gave him a sly-triumphant smile and entered the Employee-Only door. Inside, she found Matthew flipping through a folder filled with criminal and victim files. His eyes intently searching something across the papers.

Knowing that a possible assignment coming up, Elizaveta sat down besides Matthew to determine her next potential target. “Is something coming up?” Elizaveta asked Matthew tentatively.

  
“… Not really…It’s just…There’s this one information that doesn’t seem to match up with this guy,” Matthew replied.

Elizaveta leaned over to see what he meant. The man on this page was said to be a college delinquent in the school where Elizaveta went undercover as a teaching assistant. He had a wild personality and somewhat liked amongst his friends. Due to medicine, and possibly drugs, his eyes were said to be constantly bloodshot and his face a pale white color. This person was suspected to be a drug dealer, which somewhat justified his absence in almost all of his classes, including Pre-Med, the class Elizaveta assisted in. Yet the boy disappeared two weeks ago for real and no one was able to find him again. Elizaveta furrowed her eyebrows—Never had she seen this person once, and she clearly remembered the visage of every one of her students in the class. For no reason, the picture of the suspect also brought back some not so pleasant memories of hers:

_“Liz! Come here! I have a big announcement to make!” The white-haired boy tugged on the sleeves of Liz’s T-shirt._

  
_ Liz rolled her playfully, "You always have a big announcement to make Gil, when do you ever have something that’s not important?”_

  
_ Gil pouted at Liz for a second but quickly brightened up again. Liz giggled at how quickly Gil’s mood can change. _

_“...But! This is a super important announcement that has to do with our continuation of friendship!” Gil stated proudly,” And I am going to make it so that no other pair of best friends has ever done what we are going to do today. We are going to become blood-besties!”_

  
_ Liz huffed,” I’m not mixing blood with you. We can both get infected and then we don’t get to see each other for a week.” _

_Gil grinned, revealing his slightly crooked baby tiger teeth, "That’s why I came up with an awesome twist!" He paused for effect, and leaned in as if telling a government security secret, "We are gonna use ketchup instead of blood!”_

  
_ Liz groaned, "Why are you so obsessed with ketchup, it didn’t originate from Germany anyways.” _

_But she went along with Gil’s plan because that’s what best friends do: accept each other for their weirdness._

  
_ Gil waved around the ketchup bottle as he settled back down. Ceremoniously, he dripped two drops of the ketchup on the marble table, dipping his thumb firmly into the ketchup and holding his thumb up. Liz followed him. After both their thumbs were printed in ketchup. _

_Gil announced,_

  
_"I, Gilbert Beilschmidt, nickname Gil, born in the Land of Awesomeness and Fun, accept you—Elizaveta Héderváry, nickname Liz, born in Hungary, to be my blood sister and to endure the pain you have and the sadness that we have together no matter what happens, and to create a world between us filled with Ice-cream, mischief, movies, and excitement.” _

_And then he pressed his thumb on a white A4 paper, the ketchup staining through the thin layer. _

_Elizaveta began after him,_

_“I, Elizaveta Héderváry, nickname Liz, born in Budapest, Hungary, accept you—Gilbert Beilschmidt, nickname Gil, born in the EaStErn pArT of GeRmAnY…” _

_At this part, Liz saw Gil gave her a fake sad pout. Liz laughed inwardly and continued,_

  
_ “To be my blood brother and to endure the struggles of being bullied and ridiculed with you together, and to fight back on every one of them, to prove to the world that we are the best, and enjoy the fun together doing that.” _

_Liz finished and pressed her thumb next to Gilbert’s fingerprint. _

_Gilbert whooped, “Time to take over the world!” _ _And gave Liz their his signature fist bump. _

_After cleaning up, Liz was assigned the “duty” of protecting the seal of friendship. She carefully stored it in her bedroom drawer, which no one else but Liz was allowed to open. After messing around a little more with Gil, they bade their goodbyes as if it was their last. Just like they always do after a playdate._  
_ The next day Liz ate the sweet bread when the news popped out. _

_“Missing child reported—White hair, red eyes, was noticed entering a back Sedan with an unknown license.”_

  
_ And just like that, Gil left Liz alone._

“So, another mission then?” Elizaveta asked Matthew, focusing back to the folder of criminals.

  
Matthew sighed,” Yeah, I guess so… I still need to call Feliks and Toris up though.”

Both Feliks and Toris are partners with Elizaveta, which helps when one of them is in danger or when all of them are in danger. As Feliks says—emotional support is everything.  
By the thought of those names, the employee door opened with a bang with an “umph” following the closing door. A short-statured, black wigged and plainly dressed man strode in, slamming his wig on the floor and ripping off his plain black shirt, revealing dark blond hair and a bright yellow tank top. He seemed to be grumbling about being normal and shitty clothing.  
Elizaveta grinned to herself. Typical Feliks style. She was almost 99 percent sure that Feliks hadn’t seen them yet.  
After taking his shirt off, Feliks unzipped his pants and threw it casually on to the person who quietly slipped in.

“Take that Liet!”

He laughed as the other man struggled to comprehend what was going on after being hit by Feliks previously with the door. Elizaveta sighed, Feliks needs to learn someday how to treat his bestie—Toris—better.

After hearing her sigh though, Feliks froze. He turned around hesitantly and found 4 pairs of eyes staring at him. He gave a small squeak and darted into the bathroom downstairs.

  
“Hey Toris! I think we have a new assignment coming up!” Elizaveta said.

The poor shy figure who was thrown a pant and hit against a door broke open a small smile when he saw Elizaveta and Matthew.

“Hi guys! Ummm... I’m just gonna change and call Feliks back up and then we could discuss the mission in entirety,” Toris said and ran towards the bathroom too.


	3. Stock up the secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please pardon the French if it doesn't sound right. It's directly Google translated.

After some murmuring and shuffling in the bathroom stall, Toris came out with Feliks hiding behind him.  
“So... We need to track down a random college lackey that decided to run off from college,” Feliks concluded sarcastically after briefing over the file, “I wonder what his motives are.”  
“Exactly,” said Matthew, “that’s where the problem starts.” He unlocked a drawer and took out a plastic container with a ripped jacket on the inside. Putting on latex gloves, he carefully pulls out the jacket. “This jacket was found 2 weeks ago, buried under a stack of dirty jerseys the night before he was reported missing. The jacket had just been turned in to us by the school last night when the school decided to make the case. Last night we examined the jacket, and there was blood on it.”  
“Oooh, a college drug dealer who got shot after a shady deal!” Feliks exclaimed. Elizaveta and Toris grinned at Felik’s remark, but Matthew stayed serious.  
“The blood from the jacket was from 1 of the suspected victims of a serial killer that works for ZETA,” Matthew stated. Felik’s smile dropped and Elizaveta raised her eyebrows. So this guy was the one they were trying to track down for almost 3 years by now. It’s also been a while since his peak activity period, yet that doesn’t change the fact that Elizaveta still wants to beat him up. During the entire 3 years that they tried to track him down, they had failed to put a face to this person. He was annoyingly elusive, making painstakingly boastful signature marks on his victims’ left arm and then leading a blood trail to a dead end. Elizaveta really couldn’t count how many times she wanted to torture that guy until he died the most painful death in his afterlife just because he was such a pain in the arse to her.  
“What’s the plan,” Toris asked. Matthew pulled out a blank sheet of paper and wrote down their names.  
“Currently I’m planning to split you guys up into groups. Elizaveta you will be entering the restaurant that seems to be frequently visited by people affiliated with ZETA. Toris, you and Feliks will be entering the auditorium as invited guests. I have made fake passes for everyone and Alfred has prepared back-up material just in case something bad happens. If we get found out, try to leave as stealthily as possible. I will be speaking to you guys from the bar diagonally across from the restaurant. If people start chasing you, hide as best as you can from them, and then do your best to run towards the side door of the bar. Mathias has prepared a fake bar room for us. The ground floor is just an un-used bar room. On the side, there is a private bathroom that can only be locked from the inside. Go into the bathroom and lock the door. Inside the bathroom, there would be a row of bathrooms and 2 sinks. Crawl into the cupboard below the sinks and push the backside of the wall and you will see me. Together we can then plan and wait while communicating to Mathias in the bar about the situation outside. Any questions?” Matthew asked as he handed them a well-drawn out diagram of what they need to accomplish.  
Feliks shrugged, Elizaveta shook her head and Toris said a quiet “no.”

Matthew checked the clock,  
“Well then, it seems like my stupid brother seems to be done with his shift as a bartender and the bar has closed. If you guys want, you can check out your new gears,” Matthew sighed. Feliks gave a squeal of delight as he dragged Toris downstairs. Elizaveta sympathetically patted Matthew’s shoulder as he tried to stifle a yawn. He probably pulled an all-nighter to procure all this information. The guy really needed to take care of himself more, but she probably shouldn’t be the one who told him that, since she really wasn’t better off than Matthew in terms of sleep schedules.

Alfred POV  
After waving off Elizaveta and sighing at his own incompetence in drinking games, Alfred wiped his hands on a wet cloth and began to prepare drinks for another customer. The chiming of the doorbell announced the entrance of a young man in black jeans and a leather jacket, his short sandy hair accompanying bushy eyebrows. Looking around, the man’s slender fingers brushed across the side of the bar table as he finally chose the side  
chair. The man slumped down on the table and glancing at the menu for some seconds, he buried his head in his arms and just sat there and waited. Alfred’s curiosity leads him to approach the man, trying to keep himself as calm as he could be.  
“Good evening sir, what can I get for you tonight to let you forget your worries?” Alfred asked in his professional bartender voice. The man looked up and gazed at him straight into the eyes. His eyes were a pure shade of light green.

_Just like emeralds, glowing in the dark, no one knows what they truly are..._

  
“A glass of Negroni please.” A clear London accent cut through Alfred’s thoughts. “Negroni?” Alfred asked, still somewhat in a daze.  
“Yes, Negroni.” The man answered, furrowing his brows a little.  
“Why would you want a Negroni? It doesn’t really fit your personality.” Alfred <strike>stupidly</strike> continued to ask. The man raised his eyebrows, “Excuse me? This is supposed to be my order.”His pupils narrowed, almost as if he was going to turn into a feral cat any moment from now. Alfred gulped. “It’s just... you just look like such a cute person with your eyebrows and height and everything else, you don’t really look like someone who will drink something so dark and bitter. And your eyes are really pretty, I’ve never seen such a shade of green before on someone’s iris...” He saw the man’s face drain white and then flush rose red, the anger seemed to be gone from his eyes, only a mixture of defiance and embarrassment remain. “Your blush too, it’s also kinda cute,” Alfred added at the end of his sentence.  
“That’s it! I’m leaving!” The man stood up but was suddenly forced down by a hand. “Mon amí, cette nuit ne fait que commencer. Ne sois pas si pressé de partir.” A blond-haired man with a man bun kept the green-eyed man down on his seat.  
“Godammit you stupid frog, always appearing at the worst moments of my life. Get the fuck out of here or else I swear tonight will be the night where you will lose that ***** you prize so much.” The green-eyed man seethed his cheeks a dark shade of red.  
“Non non Inglaterre we are going to be polite tonight…” the blond hair man stated as he looked towards Alfred and extended his arm to shake his hand. “Hi… Alfred, My name is Francis and this is my boy friend Authur. We’ve been companions since we were young and I hope you will be taking good care of him after tonight;)” Francis winked at Alfred and walked out of the bar.  
“Ummm…Isn’t that called cheating…?” Alfred stated hesitantly watching Francis’ figure disappear into the night.  
“No you little shit that’s called a bEtRaYaL,” Authur spoke through gritted teeth next to him. After looking down, fuming with embarrassment for a few minutes, he suddenly looked at Alfred with eyes glinting with playfulness,  
"Say, lover-boy, I think you got yourself in a bit of trouble.” He nudged his head towards the rest of the bar.  
Alfred heard a click and felt a cold round tip next to his head.  
“Where’s my alcohol fucker? It’s been half an hour!!!” He was face to face with a white-haired man with bloodshot eyes, no, they were red and bloodshot. Alfred looked at Authur with pleading eyes,  
"Please save me,” he begged.  
Authur raised one of his thick brows and turned away, looking nonchalant. (it's kinda cute Alfred thought internally but he was also too scared to say anything else.) The gun was pressed closer to his head,  
“please please please save me I’m so sorry for calling you cute you are a vicious wild animal who is still really cute wait fuck wrong word anyways I’m still a virgin who hasn’t had the time of their lives yet and I was hoping wait fuck nononononono, don’t kill me etcetcetcetcetcetc.” Words poured out of his mouth in haste for survival.  
When he finished, he turned around and the white-haired man was gone. So was Authur. Alfred was faced with an empty bar room along with his brother looking at him as if he was crazy and the white-haired man's cackling laughter ringing in the back of his mind.  
“Fuck.” Alfred said.

Matthew sighed.  
Alfred POV ends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mon amí, cette nuit ne fait que commencer. Ne sois pas si pressé de partir=My friend, the night has just started. Don't be in such a hurry to leave;)


	4. Bachelor's Buttons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elizaveta starts her parttime work in the flower shop and two customers visit her in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: MENTIONS OF MURDER AND TORTURE, MINOR CHARACTER DEATH, ORIGINAL CHARACTER APPEARS
> 
> Also named: A very lazy writer decided maybe it's time to become more productive in writing.
> 
> Author note:  
I hope everyone who is reading this right now the best of the best. We are all going through a very difficult time and the best that we can do is to stay safe and healthy. Fighting!!!!
> 
> Comments and Kudos are welcome, it has been a long time since I wrote something, so the OOC of characters are all mine, the characters belong to Hetalia:)))

Matthew POV

Matthew walked out of the workroom seeing Alfred begging a table to not kill him. He was spewing some shit about being a virgin and having potential and his hatred of death and some guy’s name. Finally, he stopped and looked at Matthew as if he fucked up.

“I fucked up,” he said.

Matthew ignored him and looked around the room, he suddenly noticed something on the side of the bar table. It was a small bomb that seemed to be controlled electronically along with tiny cameras hidden on top of the flower vases.

“Alfred if we don’t disable that thing over there we’re going to end up in pieces,” Matthew hissed to him.

The two brothers got to work quickly. When they were done, Matthew went back into the office and called everyone up to discuss the problem.

Feliks and Toris shook their head, Alfred still looked like he was in a daze, but Elizaveta seemed to be staring into nothingness.

“Elizaveta, you alright?” Matthew asked.

“Just some bad memories,” Elizaveta gave him a small smile after slightly flinching away as if she was in a daze.

_It’s unlike her._ He thought. On the other hand, everyone had their own secrets, and Matthew decided to respect Elizaveta’s privacy for now.

***Elizaveta POV***

_red eyes…entering back Sedan…license unknown…trash bag filled with the remains of a boy, almost unrecognizable due to major bleeding around the scalp and chest area…heavy slam…red eyes…red eyes… _

Elizaveta opened her eyes and looked outside, the weak sunlight was seeping through the blinds, dropping on to the bed and closet, giving the stoic room a small change. The red eyes-- it was the same dream, visiting her from time to time, never too late, as if it was afraid of being forgotten, yet kind enough to spare her the mercy of the details. She no longer remembers who had red eyes, every memory, when she was young, was torn away from by growth and constant mission assignments. She doesn’t remember why she decided to become a vigilante either, the only reminder of possible trauma she experienced as a child was the chilling blare of the orange alert of another child missing, filling the depth of emptiness in her childhood memory with more questions unanswered.

Elizaveta decided to get up, leaving the memory of the dream to crawl back into the pillows. 

The taste of Sunday melted in Elizaveta’s tongue as a cup of hot Cappuccino coated by the crisp morning air. She opened the back door to the flower shop and was greeted by the familiar scent of earth melded with the vibrant aroma of the hyacinths. Being a vigilante was sometimes mentally consuming, always trying to hide when attacked, attack when the target hides, trying to find wherever the fuck the target hides, stressing about how not to drown in an underground cave filled with liquid decaying trash because the fucker pushed you into a sewer in an undeveloped part of the country… There were a lot of very unpleasant times while being a vigilante, but almost nothing can compare to the rush of dopamine coursing through your body when you beat the fucker unconscious and slowly twist the knife under his skin to watch him wake up in pain.

The short melody of wind chimes against passing wind brought Elizaveta out of her thought train. A man came in dressed in a black overcoat and white button-downs. He walked around the storefront, stopping shortly to look at the tulips, roses, and irises took out a phone and started typing. Elizaveta put down the scissors cutting the wilting freesia and walked towards him, the smell of fresh-cut leaves perforating the air.

“How can I help you sir?” she asked. The man looked up from his phone,

“Are there any Bachelor's Buttons over here?” he asked.

“Bachelor's Buttons? You mean the cornflowers right?” Elizaveta asked him back.

“Doesn’t Bachelor's Buttons sound much better?” he replied.

“There’s a lot of flowers out there that are also called bachelor's buttons,” Elizaveta looked up towards his eyes, they were hazel with flicks of red piercing out. “Come,” she said to the man and walked towards the outdoor greenhouse.

“There is only one that is commonly known though, and you should know that since you’re a florist.”The man said after a pause.

“I work at the shop,” Elizaveta replied to him without turning back. Is he plotting to ruin her perfect Sunday morning? He’s succeeding at that spectacularly.

“Bachelor's buttons were my mother’s favorite flower before she died,” the man said suddenly,” she hid me and my brother in a field of them when the bad guys came. She used to make us flower crowns out of them.”

“It’s a pity that these flowers no longer grow in the wild,” Elizaveta replied, searching for a way to console his grief, yet finding none. Things don’t become okay when your mother dies before you.

So there she stood, with the man in front of the violet-blue flowers basking under the soft morning sun, a quiet requiem for the lives lost with the passing of time, the tingling melody of the wind chime of the front door leading them back to the present.

The man bashfully smoothed his hair, roots of white peeking out of dark black hair, “I’m so sorry, you must have another customer waiting for you. Thank you for showing me to these flowers.” He started walking around the cornflowers with an aloof agitation, trying to hide the embarrassment of what he did just before. “You’re welcome,” Elizaveta said, filled with the same embarrassment herself and willing it not to show on her face, ”I’ll be at the front counter if you need me.” She went into the shop without looking back. The new customer was a mother carrying a blind child, telling her the different colors of the flowers. The child tilted her head to smell the lavender, the tips of the tiny petals tickles her nose. She giggled, “Mommy, purple tickles.”

Elizaveta walked up to them, “Ma’am, would you mind if I gave you and this little princess a tour around?” The girl started bouncing up and down excitedly,” Mommy let’s go visit this castle!” The woman looked to her in gratitude, the dark circles in her eyes evident from the constant worrying about people not accepting her child because she couldn’t see. “Honey, I would love to, but remember to say the magic word—“

The girl put her tiny hand on top of Elizaveta’s apron while tilting her head back to her mom,”Pleaseeee!!!” Elizaveta smiled and bent down to grab a small pot of poppies from the side of the flower rack, “say hi to Madame Poppy, she is wearing a red silk dress.” The girl’s face lit up, “Hi Madame! Can I touch your dress?”

So Elizaveta played the game with the girl until she had a full view of the entire inner store, and then they went out, the girl’s hand still clutching her work apron. “Shhh, we’re entering the secret garden,” Eliza softly told her. The girl stood instantly still, gingerly making each step down the aisle of assorted daisies, buttercups, asters, stopping slowly to touch their stems and bulbs asking Eliza who they are. Eliza tried her best to imagine the different roles that the flowers played in the imaginary castle,” Lady Buttercup is still young, she is wearing a thin, puffed out yellow dress and currently enjoying the sun. Lady Daisy and Lady Aster on the other side, are soaking up in a cool bath in their white and purple dresses.”

“Miss Eliza,” the girl tugged at Elizaveta’s apron, her voice filled with naive curiosity,” Can I ask you a question?”

“Yes my princess, whatever you like” Elizaveta replied, smiling down at her.

“Why doesn’t anyone wear blue in this castle?” the girl asked.

“Not many people can have blue in the castle, it’s one of the most sacred colors, but there is one that exists.” A new voice joined in the conversation. Elizaveta turned around and there was the man who had an argument with her about the name of cornflowers holding a pot of cornflowers in his hands. Not again, she thought.

The man looked at her in the eyes, a small smile twisted onto the side of his lips.

_I win._ He told her with his hazel eyes, the red specks in them ever so piercing.

The smile quickly faded though, when the child started pulling on his black overcoat and was replaced with a look of confusion and discomfort.

“Hello Mister, are you a prince?” the girl asked him.

“I…I…um…”The man was lost for words, either due to the shock that he was called a prince, or the fact that a child was willing to speak to him.

Picking up on this opportunity to compensate for the sudden interruption of her storytelling with the child, Elizaveta flashed the man a big smile before telling the child, "Oh no! I almost forgot about the prince that lives here, he actually brought a mysterious blue visitor with him, I will let him introduce you to this blue visitor.” She saw the man take a deep gulp of breath and glare at her. She gestured at him to start his performance.

_Not yet you arrogant bastard. _She thought, returning his previous smirk.

The man gave her a nonchalant shrug and started his story, “Ah yes, I am the prince of this awesome castle. Let me introduce you to Bachelor Buttons—“he was cut off by the giggling of the child,” That’s such a funny name, Mr. Buttons!” She started laughing. The man looked thoroughly embarrassed and frustrated, his cream-colored face erupted with a wave of burgundy red.

“Hey, that’s no way to talk to this visitor, Mr. Buttons will be the person to judge whether you will find your true love or not!” The man said in mock-anger to the child, which just prompted her to laugh harder.

European tiger mom. Elizaveta’s mind supplied to herself about the situation and couldn’t stop herself from laughing too, thinking about the man’s overcoat changed to a flowery dress and using a broom to fight off people with his hair twirled up. The man noticed her laughing, and his face and the tip of the ears turned to the shade of crimson. He pointed at the Elizaveta and the child and commanded, ”You two! Say sorry to Bachelor Buttons or else you will never find your true love!”

In fits of muffled giggling, Elizaveta and the girl managed to form a half-apology, barely able to look straight at the cornflower or the ridiculous man. The man gave them a scornful look and looked back at the pot of cornflowers,” Mr. Buttons,” he said in mock formality, “do you accept their apology?”

“Your highness, I think you just got peed on by Mr. Buttons,” Elizaveta remarked, noticing a darker spot on the black coat. The man quickly looked at his coat, “Buttons, didn’t I tell you that this is my most expensive suit?” he asked the flower, without a reply he continued, ”This is Armani Buttons, ARmAnI you hear me?” He loomed over the flower as if trying to scare it into apologizing.

Ignoring the absurdity of the situation and the overbearing desire to laugh, Elizaveta felt that she had a responsibility as the store clerk and a flower lover to stop this man from bullying her flowers. “Hey now, prince, I think it’s time for you to bade goodbye to our princess, the time is late, she still has to go to a tea party with her mother, right princess?” She asked. The child looked up at her in hopefulness, “Will I come back here?” She asked Elizaveta.

“You can come back anytime during the weekend before 4 pm and I will be here.” Elizaveta bent down until she became the same height as she spoke to the child softly. The child’s face lit up in delight as Elizaveta led her back to her mother. “Mommy! I just had the best day ever in the flower kingdom!” the girl told her mother. Her mother beamed as the child shared all her experiences with her. Their laughter slowly faded away with the soft tingling sounds of the wind chimes through the door. Elizaveta turned back around and saw the man holding the pot of Bachelor’s Buttons. She smiled at him. The man, seemingly confused about why she was smiling at him, took a step back and almost fell down the 3 steps of stairs.

“Thank you for helping out today,” she said.

The man paused for a moment, as if trying to find a way to reply, finding none, simply said,

”Gilbert. People call me Gilbert.”

“People call me Elizaveta. Nice to meet you.” Elizaveta replied. The man checked his watch, hurriedly paid for the pot of flowers in his hands and left the shop, the ringing of wind chimes the only indicator of his previous mysterious and boisterous existence in the shop.

That night, Elizaveta's dream was once again plagued with a pair of eyes in the shade of carnations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that there's some free time, I felt like I should at least try to make it my goal to finish a story in my lifetime. But anyway, please don't bother to wait for the update of this story since I promise you, it will be slow. But yeah, I guess in this chapter Elizaveta meets Gilbert and none of them recognizes each other.


End file.
